| 38 |
Construction
completed at Burbank.
|
| 06MAR38 |
Delivered
to Guinea Airways Ltd by Lockheed. Purchase price was £23,000.
|
| 27APR38 |
Unloaded
from the S.S. "Romney" at North Wharf, Melbourne and transferred to the
S.S. "Coorinda".
|
| 05MAY38 |
Arrived
at Port Adelaide on the S.S. "Coorinda".
|
| 19MAY38 |
Test flown
at Parafield by Lockheed pilots, Marshall Headle and Charles Grugan. Subsequently
the aeroplane was demonstrated in Adelaide and interstate by GAL Chief Pilot
Captain H.O. Cook with Marshall Headle as an adviser.
|
| 23MAY38 |
Registration
application from Guinea Airways Ltd.
|
| 23MAY38 |
Added
to the Register as VH-ABI.
|
| 02JUN38 |
Demonstrated
in Melbourne by GAL Chief Pilot Captain H.O. Cook with Marshall Headle as
an adviser.
|
| 03JUN38 |
Arrived
at Mascot from Melbourne.
|
| 10JUL38 |
The aircraft
entered service on the Adelaide-Darwin run named "Koranga". The name was
derived from that of a New Guinea gold mine belonging to an associate company
of Guinea Airways.
|
| OCT38 |
Struck
a large rock at Oodnadatta ripping out the tailwheel and damaging the rear
fuselage. The aircraft was later ferried back to Parafield for repairs.
|
| 11NOV38 |
The aircraft
was ground looped at Tennant Creek causing minor damage.
|
| 38 |
GAL experienced
constant problems with the engines due to the dusty conditions.
|
| 18JAN39 |
Crashed
soon after take-off from Katherine, N.T. killing all on board (three crew
plus one passenger). After becoming airborne with difficulty, the aeroplane
descended into the river gorge following the river upstream when one wing
stalled and the aircraft entered a spin and crashed into six feet of water.
The crew comprised Captain J.A. Jukes, Captain C.R. Clarke, First Officer/Flight
Engineer P.I. Donegan and the passenger was Mr A. McDonald, the Chief Inspector
of Aerodromes in the Northern Territory. The aircraft was also carrying
700 pounds of mail which had been loaded in Darwin the previous evening.
The investigation determined that the single runway of only 700 yards was
marginal for the type. Wheel marks on the runway indicated that there had
been five attempts at becoming airborne before the boundary fence prompted
one last desperate attempt at lifting off with too little airspeed. The
bodies of the victims were flown back to Adelaide in Lockheed 10 VH-UXH.
|
| 18JAN39 |
Struck
off the Register.
|
| Postscript: |
Streets
off the Gorge Road in Katherine are named Jukes Crescent, Clarke Crescent,
Donegan Crescent and McDonald Street in honour of those who died in the
accident.
|
